This is only a brief clip and is embedded in a wider evangelical conversation about the nature of “incarnational ministry” so I want to be generous here. But there seem to be several problems with this. The first three that spring to mind are:

First, when a Pastor challenges others to “be Jesus” to people, does he really expect those people to fulfill the role of the second person of the Trinity? I think not.

Second, didn’t Paul encourage the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitated Christ? That sounds like “being Jesus to people” to me.

Third, everything Jesus did, he did by the power of the Holy Spirit. Asking people to “be Jesus to others” is actually asking them to live in radical dependence on the Holy Spirit, as Jesus did. I am not sure how that would cause us to miss the work of the Spirit (as Jeff V claims).

I doubt anyone has ever taken that saying to mean that we should go and atone for the sins of then world. Rather, it clearly means that as the body of Christ we are to continue the mission of Jesus, making his kingdom present on earth, by being his hands and feet. The church IS the body of Jesus on earth and are to act as such.